Sam Raimi Hired To Direct 'Oz' (& Downey?)

UPDATE: Let me confirm that Sam Raimi is set to direct Disney’s extravagant ‘Wizard of Oz’ 3D prequel. I understand that talks to hire Raimi for Oz: The Great And Powerful turned into a deal last night finalized by CAA. It’s a coup for new studio bosses Rich Ross and Sean Bailey, who are rolling the dice big-time by hoping that this pic will be a global hit like the billion-dollar-grossing Alice In Wonderland. “Robert Downey Jr. isn’t set yet. They are going to develop for him, if things go right. The script will be rewritten,” one of my sources says. “The movie will happen, though.” Downey would play the Wizard Of Oz before he became the Wizard Of Oz circa the 1939 iconic film: he’s in fact a circus wrangler transported by tornado to the mysterious world of Oz where he gets mistaken for a know-it-all. This will be Raimi’s first firm project since he exited Spider-Man 4, which prompted Sony Pictures to reboot the entire franchise earlier this year. Now the only question is whether Sam Raimi can do what Tim Burton just did.